Combined connector

ABSTRACT

A combined connector comprising an insulative housing and a plurality of terminals. The insulative housing has a mating face and a rear face connecting with two opposite top face and bottom faces, and defines a plurality of terminal insertion slots. Each terminal comprises a mounting portion and a soldering portion. The mounting portions are received in the terminal insertion slots, and the soldering portions are exposed out of the terminal insertion slots and separately located below the bottom face. The housing further having a hollow portion extending through the top face to the bottom face and corresponding to the soldering portions below the bottom face. The hollow portion allows for the easy inspection of the solder joint quality of the terminals under the housing. The terminals are fixed only by the base portions of the mounting portions thereof to reduce the overall dimension of the connector.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a combined connector, and moreparticularly relates to a connector that has combined functions such asan earphone, a charging unit and a microphone of a communication device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the quick development of mobile phones in recent years, most peoplefavor the mobile phone because it exceeds the location limitations ofthe wired phone. Regarding the carrying of the mobile phone, userscommonly like small light weight configurations. Therefore, the designis directed to the reduction of size and weight of every component so asto reduce the over all size and weight of the mobile phone. At the sametime there must be good conductive connections between all of theelectrical components to maintain the quality of the signal transmissionand reception. As is will known a mobile phone must provide electricalconnections for an earphone, a charger and a microphone.

Referring to FIG. 1, a combined connector in the prior art includes aninsulative housing 5, a charging contact unit 7, an earphone contactunit (not shown) and a microphone and its contact unit (not shown). Theinsulative housing 5 is integrally designed with a flat outer surface50. The charging contact unit 7 includes terminals with varied types ofstructure and configuration and is received in the housing 5. Thehousing 5 has a mating surface 51 for engagement by a mating connectorof a charger to engage the charging contact unit 7.

The above-mentioned prior art connector, includes a housing used forpositioning and fixing the different types of terminals. The number ofthe terminals are increased as the functions provided by the connectorare increased. Soldering of the terminals to a printed circuit board isdifficult for the portions of some of the terminals which are locatedbetween the bottom of the housing and the printed circuit board. For thehard to locate terminals, solder joint quality is difficult to control,and depends upon the control of time and temperature. It is alsodifficult to inspect solder joints hidden between the housing bottom andthe printed circuit board. As shown above the combined connector in theprior art is too large and the quality of the solder joint is difficultto maintain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a combinedconnector having terminals which can be firmly soldered to a printedcircuit board and can be easily inspected. Another object is to providea combined connector having an insulative housing that is light inweight and has reduced dimensions.

To fulfill the above-mentioned objects, the present invention provides acombined connector, which is disposed in a communication device toelectrically connect to a circuit board and conductively contacting withan external mating connector. The combined connector comprises aninsulative housing and a plurality of terminals. The insulative housinghas a mating face located between opposed to and bottom faces, anddefines a plurality of terminal insertion slots. Each terminal comprisesa mounting portion and a soldering portion. The mounting portion of eachterminal is received in a respective terminal insertion slot. Thesoldering portions pass through the terminal insertion slots and arelocated behind the rear face and below the bottom face. The housingfurther defines a hollow portion extending through the top face to thebottom face and corresponds to the soldering portions which are locatedbelow the bottom face. With this configuration the solder joint betweenthe terminals and the circuit board can be visually inspected easily.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features of this invention which are believed to be novel are setforth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, togetherwith its objects and the advantages thereof, may be best understood byreference to the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify likeelements in the figures and in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial exploded perspective view of a combined connector inthe prior art.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a combined connector of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is an assembled perspective view of the rear of the combinedconnector of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an assembled perspective view of the front of the combinedconnector of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the combined connector of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the combined connector of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To be better understood the technology content, feature and function ofthe present invention, a preferred embodiment of the present inventionwill be described in detail below in conjunction with the drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 6, a combined connector of the present inventionis disposed in a communication device where its terminals are solderedto a printed circuit board. The housing 1 has a mating face 17 a and anopposed rear face 17 b which are joined with a top face 21 and a bottomface 22, which are opposed to each other. The housing 1 defines severalterminal insertion slots 11, 12 and 13, an earphone hole 18, a chargehole 129 and a microphone hole 20. The bottom face 22 further forms aprojecting post 16 which is used to position the housing 1 to theprinted circuit board (not shown).

The plurality of terminals are provided each comprising a mountingportion 38 and a soldering portion 32. The mounting portions 38 of theterminals are received in the terminal insertion slots 11, 12, and 33.The soldering portions 32 are exposed outside of the terminal insertionslots 11, 12, and 13 and are located below the bottom face 22 behind therear face 17 b to be soldered to the printed circuit board. The housing1 further defines a hollow portion 14 extending through the top face 21to the bottom face 22, and corresponding to the soldering portions 32below the bottom face 22. The housing 1 further forms a rib 15 locatedin the hollow portion 14 to strengthen the structure of the housing 1.

The terminals form an audio frequency contact unit 35, a chargingcontact unit 26 and a microphone contact unit 37. The mounting portionsof the terminals each have a base portion 39 which includes interferingtabs 31. One end of the base portion 30 is formed with a resilient arm33 where the free end of the resilient arm 33 has a contacting portion34. The other end of the base portion 30 has a soldering portion 32.

Openings of the terminal insertion slots 11 of the housing 1 are locatedin the bottom face 22, and the audio frequency contact unit 35 isdisposed in the terminal insertion slots 11 and fixed to the terminalinsertion slots 1 by the interfering tabs 31. The earphone hole 18 ofthe mating face 17 a communicates with the terminal insertion slots 11.The external mating connector comprises a mating earphone connector (notshown), which is inserted into the earphone hole 18 and electricallyengages the contacting portions 34 of the terminals of the audiofrequency contact unit 35.

Openings of the terminal insertion slots 12 of the housing 1 are locatedin the rear face 17 b of the housing and the charging contact unit 65 isdisposed in the terminal insertion slots 12 and fixed in the terminalinsertion slots 12 by the interfering tabs 31. The charge hole 19 of themating face 17 a communicates with the terminal insertion slots 12. Theexternal mating connector comprises a mating charge connector (notshown), which is inserted into the charge hole 19 and electricallyengages the contacting portions 34 of the terminals of the chargingcontact unit 36.

Openings of the terminal insertion slots 13 of the housing 1 are locatedin the bottom face 22, and the microphone contact unit 37 is disposed inthe terminal insertion slots 13 and are fixed to the terminal insertionslots 13 with the interfering tabs 31. The housing 1 further defines areceiving slot 23 to receive a microphone 24. The microphone hole 20 ofthe mating face 17 a communicates with the receiving slot 23 andcorresponds to the audio hole of the microphone 24. Electrical contactpoints of the microphone 24 electrically engage the contacting portions34 of the terminals of the microphone contact unit 37.

The soldering portions 32 of the terminals of the combined connectorextend below the bottom face 22, and are located within the area of theperiphery of the bottom face 22 and the hollow portion 14. This willallow for the easy inspection of the solder joint between the terminalsand the printed circuit board. The terminals are fixed in the terminalinsertion slots 11, 12, and 13 only by the interfering tabs 31 of thebase portion 30. The housing 1 fixes the terminals without the need forother materials so that the height between the top face 21 and thebottom face 22 is reduced resulting in the overall dimensions and theweight of the connector being reduced due to the hollow portion 14.

The mating face 17 a of the housing 1 further defines a cutout 25adjacent to the bottom face 22. The cutout 25 receives solderingportions of edge terminals of a MINI USB (not shown), for savingrequired space of the whole combination and increasing the function ofthe combined connector.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have beenillustrated and described, it is not intended to limit the presentinvention to these embodiments. Rather, a person skilled in the art canmake various changes to these embodiments without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention. So, what the presentinvention intends to protect is based on the claims defined by thepresent application.

1. A combined connector being disposed in a communication device to beelectrically connected to a printed circuit board, comprising: aninsulative housing having a mating face and an opposed rear face, themating and rear faces being connected together by a top face and abottom face, a plurality of terminal insertion slots, and a hollowportion extending through the top face to the bottom face and aplurality of terminals, each terminal comprising a mounting portion anda soldering portion, the mounting portion of the terminals received inthe terminal insertion slots, the soldering portions extending out ofthe terminal insertion slots, below the bottom face, and correspondingto the hollow portion so that a solder joint between the terminalmounting portion and the board can be easily inspected.
 2. The combinedconnector of claim 1, wherein the insulative housing further defines arib portion located in the hollow portion.
 3. The combined connector ofclaim 1, wherein the bottom face of the housing further defines acutout, and the cutout receives a soldering portion of an edge contactof a MINI USB.
 4. The combined connector of claim 1, wherein aprojecting post is further formed on the bottom face of the housing anddesigned to be inserted into an aperture in the printed circuit board.5. The combined connector of claim 1, wherein the bottom face of thehousing further has first openings to receive an audio contact unit, themating face of the housing further including an earphone hole whichcommunicates with the opening and designed to receive an earphoneconnector so that terminals of the ear phone connector electricallyengages the terminals of the audio contact unit.
 6. The combinedconnector of claim 1, wherein the housing further has a second openingin the rear face of the housing designed to receive a charging contactunit, the mating face further including a charging hole communicatingwith the second opening, the charging hole designed to received a matingcharge connector from the mating connector to electrically engage thecharge connector terminal with the terminal of the charging contactunit.
 7. The combined connector of claim 1, wherein the housing furtherhas a third and forth opening located at the bottom face and includes amicrophone contact unit inserted into the third opening and a microphoneinserted into the forth opening, the mating face further including amicrophone hole communicating with the third opening and correspondingto an audio hole of the microphone, terminals of the microphone beingdesigned to engage contact portion of the terminals of the microphonecontact unit.
 8. The combined connector of claim 5, wherein theterminals each having a base portion and the interfering tabs on thebase portion mechanically engaging within the terminal insertion slotswherein a resilient arm extend from one end of the base portion and asoldering portion extends from an end of the base portion opposite theend from which the resilient arm extends.